And at the End and Beginning Was You
by laurah2215
Summary: Story 22 in the series: The Concannon's:Present, Past and Future


Title: And At the End and Beginning Was You

Series: The Concannon's Present, Past and Future

Author: Laura H

Rating-PG/Teen

Disclaimer: Are we still doing this? I'm a twenty-one year-old student with a bus pass. You'd be better off to sue my dog.

Synopsis: CJ and Danny embark on their journey together

Author's Notes: I wrote this in an hour. Sorry for any issues.

Story 1: I Loved Her First

Story2- Just Another Day in Paradise

Story 3: My Little Girl

Story 4:Chivalry Isn't Dead

Story 5:He's Just Sensitive

Story 6: The Hardest Conversation Ever

Story 7: Letting Go

Story 8: Getting Good at New Things

Story 9: Where We Need to Be

Story 10: Always Loved By Me You're Gonna Be

Story 11: Endings and Beginnings

Story 12: Proud of the House We Built

Story 13:Starting a Club

Story 14: First Pet

Story 15: Miscommunication

Story 16:The Go-Between

Story 17: The Third and Fourth Wheel

Story 18: You Can Let Go

Story 19: Make the World Go Away

Story 20:Invalid

Story 21-Hands on a Miracle

Story 22- And at the End and the Beginning Was You

Timeline:Nov 2006- CJ and Danny finally see what they've been missing for

eight years. Story 19- Make the World Go Away

Jan 2007- CJ and Danny move to California together. CJ becomes

President of the Hollis Foundation. Danny begins writing Josiah

Bartlet's biography. Story 22-"And At the End and Beginning Was You

July 2007-CJ and Danny get married at the Bartlet farm and conceive

Abigail during their honeymoon in Ireland.

August 2007:Story 13-"Starting a Club"

Sept 2007- Danny starts school to finish his doctorate

Nov 2007-Story 20 "Invalid"

Feb 2008- Abigail is born

March 2009-Patrick is born.

January 2011: Story 5-He's Just Sensitive"

Sept 2013:Story 2-"Just Another Day in Paradise"

Nov 2013- February 2014: Story 3- "My Little Girl"

May 2015: Story 14- "First Pet"

June 2020:Story 16-"The Go-Between"

June 2021: Story 4- "Chivalry Isn't Dead"

June 2021: Story 17: "The Third and Fourth Wheels"

Jan 2025:Story 6-"The Hardest Conversation Ever"

March 2025: Story 7- "Letting Go"

June 2029-Story 11 "Endings and Beginnings"

May 2032: Story 1-Abigail's wedding- "I Loved Her First"

July 2032: Story 8- "Getting Good at New Things"

September 2032: Story 9-"Where We Need to Be"

January 2033: Story 10-"Always Loved By Me You're Gonna Be

July 2033: Story 12- "Proud of the House We Built"

September 2033: Story 15-"Miscommunication"

March 2044:-"You Can Let Go"

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Leaving the White House gates, CJ Cregg took a last wistful look at the palace and prison she had the bitter-sweet opportunity of working in the last eight years. In many ways, it felt like the end of an incredible journey. She thought of everything they did to get Josiah Bartlet into this place, and everything they did to maintain his honour while he served in the hallowed halls. She had been through the most difficult experiences of her life along with the administration staff who had become like a second family. And while Josh, Donna, Sam and others were about to bulk Matthew Santos up to tackle the inevitable challenges which would unfold for him in the next four to eight years, she was finally leaving for good. Nothing had ever felt so chokingly sad, and yet so blissfully uplifting. She had made quite the reputation for herself. She was the first female Chief of Staff and she worked excessively for the man who she believed in the most. She had succeeded in affecting positive change for the country and even the world, so she felt like for the first time since high school that restless desire to help and change had been effectively satiated. Now the itching desire within her is to settle down into a more manageable routine where she could continue to champion the causes she believes in. More than anything, she cannot wait to return to California, and a certain someone who had been patiently biding his time to love her for eight years.

* *

Stepping past the baggage claim area of LAX, CJ thought it felt like the beginning of an incredible journey. Standing a few feet away was the red-headed reporter which had given her so much grief for the last decade, and was certain to give her much more pleasure for the decades to come.

Danny couldn't remain routed to his spot. He rushes up to CJ and immediately envelopes in his arms.

"I told you I could meet you at the place…" CJ protests after they share a quick kiss.

"And deny me the opportunity to see you without your entourage for the first time? Not a chance. I intend to completely take advantage of our new freedom and privacy. How was the flight?" Danny takes CJ's luggage from her and steers her towards the doors to the parking lot.

"Intoxicating. I'm grateful to be back on solid ground. That was no Air Force One," CJ chuckles a little awkwardly. She can't believe she's actually here, that they're actually about to start their lives together.

"I got something that will cheer you up: I brought your Mustang." Danny reaches for CJ's free hand as they make their way to the car.

"Oh my baby!" CJ cries in glee.

Danny's brows rise in surprise. "All right, apparently I'm not done competing for your affection. First the job and now the car."

But CJ stops dead in her tracks, not wanting to have offended Danny. " Danny…I…"

Danny's lips turn into a smile that indicates he was only joking. "I'm kidding. Take a deep breath. We're gonna be fine."

Suddenly CJ gets a sense that it might have been easier to stay in D.C. than come to Santa Monica to be with DC. " Danny, I'm really truly terrible at this. I'm not entirely sure why I ended up flying out here to meet you."

"Once I show you where we're living, you won't have any doubts. We're just gonna take it one step at a time. I love you and we're going to make this work." Danny pauses to kiss CJ tenderly on the lips, needing to encourage her like a small child.

CJ's lip turn upwards in a half-smile. This is what she wants, and she realizes it won't always be easy. But they've come so far. They talked about their future, they figured out that they wanted to spend their lives together and they had admitted how deep their love felt. "Okay, Fish-Boy, take me home."

* *

"Oh my God," CJ breathes out loud, evaluating the size of the ranch-style homes in the suburban neighbourhood Danny is driving them through.

"What do ya think?" Danny inquires with a boyish grin.

CJ gives her head a disbelieving shake. "The amount of sunlight shining down on us right now is more than the accumulation of sunlight I received in eight years in Washington."

Danny laughs lightly, pulling the convertible into a slick driveway on the left side of the street.

CJ's eyes practically bulge out her eyes. "Danny, this is huge. What are we ever gonna do with all this space? This house must have cost millions…"

Danny puts a hand up to stop CJ's blabbering. " Shssh. Don't think about that. You're ruining the moment. We'll get a good mortgage. Now hold on a sec." Danny turns off the ignition and hops over the seat and runs to the other side of the car to open the passenger seat door for CJ.

Danny takes CJ's hand and walks her up the driveway, onto the lawn and finally up the steps of the wrap-around porch. "Now, remember, if you don't like it we're not committed yet. We have this cooling off period so we could always move. But at least give it a chance. I looked at a dozen houses and I really think this is for us. Keep in mind it probably looks bigger because we've been living in studio apartments for a long time. Okay, you ready?" He halts right outside the door, his hand hovering over the lock on the doorknob.

CJ sucks in a large gulp of air before nodding soundly with a grin. "I'm ready." Instead of freaking out with a little panic attack, CJ is eagerly anticipating what their future looks like.

"Welcome to what could be our home…" Danny pronounces as he opens the door and softly ushers CJ inside.

CJ is instantly warmed to the open, spacious environment. The foyer is large and expansive with a walk in closet. To the left is a open-concept living room and dining room. In front, they walk into a large kitchen with an island counter and all new appliances.

"Now, we can pick out furniture and paint styles for these rooms. I know they look really bare right now. The kitchen is newly renovated with state -of -the -art appliances. I know you don't really care about kitchens that much but it could be nice for entertaining. We'll get a nice dining room set but for now we can just sit at the counter range." Danny walks around and points out the ammenities as he sees them.

"The kitchen is great, Danny. Is that a pool out there?" CJ slides open the glass patio door in the kitchen that leads onto the back patio stones. "Oh my God! I'm so glad. I missed having a pool. "

Danny chuckles as he follows CJ out onto their backyard that's complete with massive trees and lots of shrubbery and flowers. He has a modern barbeque on the patio which he intends to take full advantage of as soon as they get propane. " Honey, did you not look at the pictures I sent you?"

"Not really. I told myself I would trust you. I wanted this all to be a surprise, so that's why I sent you here early to do all the house scouting."CJ spins on her heels to face Danny and draw his face into a long kiss, letting her fingers absorb the soft skin around his beard.

Exhaling happily, Danny conjoins their foreheads. " Thank you. I'm glad you're trusting me. Why don't I show you the rest of the house?" He once again grabs her hand and directs her through the house. " Okay off of the living room is the guest suite. We've got a decently sized bedroom and full bath. I thought this would be good for when our families visit, or when you want to have friends from the East Coast over. The President already told me he'd love to come down here and see the place once we've got it up and running. I'm going to need to pick his brain for the biography anyway. And then if you cut across the foyer again, this is the den that comes off the foyer and is right next to the downstairs bath. Again, I know there's nothing in it but we can put some couches and a nice plasma T.V in here for all our relaxing enjoyment."

"It's great, Danny. And maybe in a few years it would be a good place for…well, if we ever had…it'd make a nice place for Sunday morning cartoons." CJ swallows hard, trying not to tear up. Only a couple weeks ago she and Danny had realized that they wanted more than just the two of them in their house. After she suffered a miscarriage, they had decided that they would try for children and see if it was God's will for them to bring more lives into what will hopefully be a loving household.

Danny wraps both arms tightly around CJ's midsection, kissing her temple. " I know. And we're gonna pray for that to happen. In the mean-time, we can watch 'Meet the Press' on Sunday mornings. Are you okay? "

CJ steps back and visibly composes herself. " Yeah, yeah. Why don't you show me the upstairs?"

"Okay. Come with me, my dear." Danny lays a hand across the small of CJ's back as they re-enter the foyer and ascend the stairs to the second floor. " Now, just keep in mind that we can make these rooms into anything we want. Here's the small bathroom. Then this room I figured we could turn into an office. It's big enough we could put two desks so we both could work from home when we want."

CJ can imagine their desks on opposite sides of the room. She can see them sipping their morning coffee and typing away at their computers while they occasionally steal heated glances during breaks. " That's a great idea. My offices won't be ready for months and you're gonna need a nice place to write the President's biography. "

"Exactly. Shall we continue?" Danny leads CJ back into the hall and opens the next door quickly. " This we could turn into a spare bedroom. And then this room is…well…." Danny stops, his eyes lowering. He doesn't want to upset CJ any more. He realizes this is a difficult day for CJ and she's making such good progress.

"Presumably the one next to ours…the one presumably we would turn into a nursery," CJ whispers, her head bowing as well.

"We'll leave it alone for now," Danny tells her, using one arm to draw her into a hug. His thumbs trace the tear tracks running down her cheeks.

"It's gonna taunt us, Danny," CJ states simply.

Exhaling, Danny nods. He wishes they could have skipped the tour of this room. " I'm so sorry, darling."

Sniffling, CJ raises her head to the roof in attempt to ward off the bad feelings. "Take me to our room. " She hadn't shared a room with someone since she lived with Ben in college. It's a strange thing to say that they are sharing a room, but at the same time she feels like it's well over-due.

Danny smiles warmly, recaptures CJ's hand and pulls her gently toward their own room with the large French doors. "Okay, remember that it'll look a lot more full once we get some furniture in here."

"Oh, Danny," CJ cries, taking in the magnificent room with its large picture window over-looking the back yard. The fireplace is the on the wall closest to the doorway and opposite where they would likely put the bed. Where their king-sized bed would be located, Danny had placed an old double mattress directly on the floor. Where they would have a night-stand is an overturned box with an alarm clock on top. Where their large dresser would be is a storage case that Danny is using to hold his underwear and socks.

"I know it doesn't look good now, but we'll make it perfect. I saved you a few rows in the storage unit so you could put your underwear there. We've got a giant walk -in closet right here, so you'll have plenty of room for your insane amount of clothes." Danny opens the door and rests his hand on CJ's shoulder.

CJ chuckles cheerfully. " Oh, darling, I think this closet is the best thing about the house. Thank you so much. Now I really know you understand my needs." She is caught up in the humour of the moment and begins to express her gratitude in kisses.

"Mmm…Well, I'm glad you like it, but don't thank me fully until you see the tub….Eight jets-that's all the description you need." Danny flings open the en-suite bathroom door with gusto.

CJ's hand fly up to her cheeks and she practically squeals in delight. " Oh my God! It's fantastic. The tub, the shower…Double sinks!!!! Oh, Danny. We are gonna be so happy here. Just me and you and this piece of art of a washroom." " She flings her arms around Danny, trying to take it all in.

" Four over-head cabinets and under the sink cupboards. If we don't want, our razors will never have to meet." Danny laughs out loud, taking so much pride and delight out of satisfying CJ with her dream house, and fantasy bathroom.

Tipping her head, CJ smiles her signature sly smile. "Well, our razors might get lonely in cupboards by themselves, so we should arrange conjugal visits on occasion."

Danny nods heartily. " I wholeheartedly concur. But for now, why don't I go get your bags out of the car and then we can get started on some dinner?"

" I knew it! You're trying to turn me into Doris Day!" CJ projects mirthfully. Her tone and smile tell him that she was only joking.

Danny makes his way back into the master-bedroom. "Ha! I'll bet Doris Day wouldn't consider fixing dinner to be ordering Chinese food. How does that sound?"

"Perfect," CJ declares softly. " Everything….is…" She wraps both arms around Danny's necks and pulls him into kiss, sucking at his bottom lip. "...perfect."

Danny leans back to appraise CJ. "Then I guess we can keep the house?"

"Yes, just as soon as we figure out how to finance it." CJ doesn't want to ruin their home-coming, but she recognizes that they need to be practical.

"We'll figure it all out, darling," Danny assures her.

* *

CJ flicks on the lamp which rests on the floor next to the mattress. " So we're really gonna sleep on your old ratty mattress?"

"Just until we order a bed set." Danny secures a fitted sheet around the mattress and proceeds to make the bed with a series of blankets.

"Okay, fine. But I'm gonna go grab the bottle of wine for us to finish. We need to toast this auspicious occasion. Just think, we don't have to be quiet because of the Secret Service anymore. We can scream as loud as we want." CJ's tone is blatantly teasing and sly.

"Don't forget the cups for the wine!" Danny calls out the door, trying to fluff the only two pillows they have up to CJ's standard. He knows this isn't what she dreamed of, but he couldn't justify buying all new stuff without CJ's input, so he decided to wait to furnish the house until their moving vans came from Washington and they were able to decorate the home together.

"Don't you mean the fine China?" CJ grins, returning with the bottle and two plastic cups. She slumps onto the finished bed, feeling like she was in her early twenties getting her first apartment.

Danny's face deflates as he joins CJ on the bed. " I'm sorry, honey. I know this sucks. But it won't be forever. Here, you can take the fluffier pillow."

CJ laughs out loud at her nervous partner and hands him a glass of wine. She cups his cheek softly and kisses him to assuage his worrying. " This is perfect, Danny. Don't you see, this is a great way to start our lives over again? We're building this home together, this relationship together, this family together."

Danny sighs in relief. " Okay, good. Well, in that case, close your eyes for a minute."

CJ rolls her eyes but reluctantly obliges. " Danny, you can take off your pants in front of me. It doesn't scare me anymore," she teases good-naturedly.

"Keep 'em closed," Danny instructs softly, shuffling over to the closet to retrieve a box. After a few seconds, CJ feels Danny's weight return to the mattress. " All, right, you can open your eyes now."

"Well, you know how much I enjoy your surprises, especially when…" CJ stops dead when the massive diamond sparkles from the lamp-light right into her eyes. "Oh…my…God."

Danny licks his lips before summoning the courage to go through with this. " You…you might know me as a great writer and orator. But just because I write and talk for a living, doesn't mean I have the easiest time expressing the depth of my feelings, especially my feelings for you. We have…we have been through the world together. We've known each other for almost a decade. We've weathered the worst storms-the President's MS, the campaigns, the shootings, the kidnapping…Leo's death…everything And through everything we only grew stronger, we only wanted to be together more. It took us so long to figure it all out, but we're finally ready to spend our lives together. I made a lot of mistakes in the past and I said and did things I shouldn't have done. And I neglected to do and say things I should have. But we've moved past all that. We're finally in love and there's nothing standing in our way now. It's just you and me, me and you. And I promise that for the rest of my life, I will do everything in my power to make you happy. I'll find us a house, I'll build us a house, I'll financially contribute to our life-style, I will treasure you forever, and I will give you a baby. I will do absolutely everything necessary for your completion as a person. I will respect you and honour you and always support you in your career. At the beginnings and ends I will always be there. Earlier I said we were going off a cliff together. So, Claudia Jean Cregg, will you hold my hand on the way down? Will you marry me?"

CJ's lips are trembling with the sobs that have creeped up on her, and while she is shocked at the chosen time and place of the proposal, she is completely sure about her response. " Yes…yes. Yes, Danny, I will. Oh, God, I will."

Danny feels as if a giant boulder has been lifted off his shoulders. He springs forward to capture CJ's lips in a passionate kiss. He pulls her forward by caressing her neck and entwines his free hand in one of hers." Thank you. I love you so much."

"I love you ,too," CJ declares confidently, tears of joy dripping down her cheeks. " But Danny…."

Danny is back to kissing her again. "Mmmm?"

"The ring! I want the ring," CJ giggles.

Danny fumbles with the box and brings the ring out of it and slides it onto her left ring finger. " Sorry. There we go. What do you think? Is it okay?"

"It's…perfect!" CJ proclaims between sobs. She inspects it carefully, not knowing how Danny could find everything she's ever wanted.

Danny eagerly watches CJ gazing adoringly at the ring. "Harry Winston. Platinum with large diamond in the centre surrounded by two smaller diamonds. And this ain't no Blood Diamond. Completely pure and one of a kind. Kinda like you."

"You sure about this?" CJ sniffs, looking up to lock their gazes.

"Definitely," Danny states without hesitation.

"Then we'll hold hands on the way down," CJ whispers before cupping both of Danny's cheeks and pulling him on top of her on the makeshift bed.

The End


End file.
